Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Themes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas
explored in a literary work.

The Effect of Racism on the Oppressed

Wright’s exploration of Bigger’s psychological corruption
gives us a new perspective on the oppressive effect racism had on
the black population in 1930s America. Bigger’s
psychological damage results from the constant barrage of racist
propaganda and racial oppression he faces while growing up. The
movies he sees depict whites as wealthy sophisticates and blacks
as jungle savages. He and his family live in cramped and squalid
conditions, enduring socially enforced poverty and having little
opportunity for education. Bigger’s resulting attitude toward whites
is a volatile combination of powerful anger and powerful fear. He
conceives of “whiteness” as an overpowering and hostile force that
is set against him in life. Just as whites fail to conceive of Bigger
as an individual, he does not really distinguish between individual
whites—to him, they are all the same, frightening and untrustworthy.
As a result of his hatred and fear, Bigger’s accidental killing
of Mary Dalton does not fill him with guilt. Instead, he feels an
odd jubilation because, for the first time, he has asserted his
own individuality against the white forces that have conspired to
destroy it.

Throughout the novel, Wright illustrates the ways in
which white racism forces blacks into a pressured—and therefore
dangerous—state of mind. Blacks are beset with the hardship of economic oppression
and forced to act subserviently before their oppressors, while the
media consistently portrays them as animalistic brutes. Given such
conditions, as Max argues, it becomes inevitable that blacks such
as Bigger will react with violence and hatred. However, Wright emphasizes
the vicious double-edged effect of racism: though Bigger’s violence
stems from racial hatred, it only increases the racism in American
society, as it confirms racist whites’ basic fears about blacks.
In Wright’s portrayal, whites effectively transform blacks into
their own negative stereotypes of “blackness.” Only when Bigger
meets Max and begins to perceive whites as individuals does Wright
offer any hope for a means of breaking this circle of racism. Only
when sympathetic understanding exists between blacks and whites
will they be able to perceive each other as individuals, not merely
as stereotypes.

The Effect of Racism on the Oppressor

The deleterious effect of racism extends to the white
population, in that it prevents whites from realizing the true humanity
inherent in groups that they oppress. Indeed, one of the great strengths
of Native Son as a chronicle of the effects of
oppression is Wright’s extraordinary ability to explore the psychology
not only of the oppressed but of the oppressors as well. Wright
illustrates that racism is destructive to both groups, though for
very different reasons. Many whites in the novel, such as Britten
and Peggy, fall victim to the obvious pitfall of racism among whites:
the unthinking sense of superiority that deceives them into seeing
blacks as less than human. Wright shows that this sense of superiority
is a weakness, as Bigger is able to manipulate it in his cover-up
of Mary’s murder. Bigger realizes that a man with Britten’s prejudices
would never believe a black man could be capable of what Bigger
has done. Indeed, for a time, Bigger manages to escape suspicion.

Other white characters in the novel—particularly those
with a self-consciously progressive attitude toward race relations—are affected
by racism in subtler and more complex ways. Though the Daltons,
for instance, have made a fortune out of exploiting blacks, they
aggressively present themselves as philanthropists committed to
the black American cause. We sense that they maintain this pretense
in an effort to avoid confronting their guilt, and we realize that they
may even be unaware of their own deep-seated racial prejudices.
Mary and Jan represent an even subtler form of racism, as they consciously
seek to befriend blacks and treat them as equals, but ultimately
fail to understand them as individuals. This failure has disastrous
results. Mary and Jan’s simple assumption that Bigger will welcome
their friendship deludes them into overlooking the possibility that
he will react with suspicion and fear—a natural reaction considering
that Bigger has never experienced such friendly treatment from whites.
In this regard, Mary and Jan are deceived by their failure to recognize
Bigger’s individuality just as much as an overt racist such as Britten
is deceived by a failure to recognize Bigger’s humanity. Ultimately,
Wright portrays the vicious circle of racism from the white perspective
as well as from the black one, emphasizing that even well-meaning
whites exhibit prejudices that feed into the same black behavior
that confirms the racist whites’ sense of superiority.

The Hypocrisy of Justice

An important idea that emerges from Wright’s treatment
of racism is the terrible inequity of the American criminal justice
system of Wright’s time. Drawing inspiration from actual court cases
of the 1930s—especially the 1938–39 case
of Robert Nixon, a young black man charged with murdering a white
woman during a robbery—Wright portrays the American judiciary as
an ineffectual pawn caught between the lurid interests of the media
and the driving ambition of politicians. The outcome of Bigger’s
case is decided before it ever goes to court: in the vicious cycle
of racism, a black man who kills a white woman is guilty regardless
of the factual circumstances of the killing.

It is important, of course, that Bigger is indeed guilty
of Mary’s murder, as well as Bessie’s. Nonetheless, the justice
system still fails him, as he receives neither a fair trial nor
an opportunity to defend himself. With the newspapers presenting
him as a murderous animal and Buckley using the case to further
his own political career, anything said in Bigger’s defense falls
on deaf ears. Even Max’s impassioned defense is largely a wasted
effort. The motto of the American justice system is “equal justice
under law,” but Wright depicts a judiciary so undermined by racial
prejudice and corruption that the concept of equality holds little
meaning.

Motifs

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary
devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

Popular Culture

Throughout Native Son, Wright depicts
popular culture—as conveyed through films, magazines, and newspapers—as
a major force in American racism, constantly bombarding citizens
with images and ideas that reinforce the nation’s oppressive racial
hierarchy. In films such as the one Bigger attends in Book One,
whites are depicted as glamorous, attractive, and cultured, while
blacks are portrayed as jungle savages or servants. Wright emphasizes
that this portrayal is not unique to the film Bigger sees, but is
replicated in nearly every film and every magazine. Not surprisingly,
then, both blacks and whites see blacks are inferior brutes—a view
that has crippling effects on whites and absolutely devastating
effects for blacks. Bigger is so influenced by this media saturation
that, upon meeting the Daltons, he is completely unable to be himself.
All he can do is act out the role of the subservient black man that
he has seen in countless popular culture representations. Later,
Wright portrays the media as one of the forces that leads to Bigger’s
execution, as the sensationalist press stirs up a furor over his
case in order to sell newspapers. The attention prompts Buckley,
the State’s Attorney, to hurry Bigger’s case along and seek the
death penalty. Wright scatters images of popular culture throughout Native
Son, constantly reminding us of the extremely influential
role the media plays in hardening already destructive racial stereotypes.

Religion

Religion appears in Native Son mostly
in relation to Bigger’s mother and Reverend Hammond. Bigger’s mother
relies on her religion as a source of comfort in the face of the
crushing realities of life on the South Side. Bigger, however, compares
his mother’s religion with Bessie’s whiskey drinking—an escapist
pastime with no inherent value. At times, Bigger wishes he were
able to enjoy the comfort religion brings his mother, but he cannot
shake his longing for a life in this world. When Reverend Hammond
gives Bigger a cross to wear while he is in prison, Bigger equates
the cross with the crosses that are burned during racist rituals.
In making this comparison, Wright suggests that even the moral province
of Christianity has been corrupted by racism in America.

Communism

Wright’s portrayal of communism throughout Native
Son, especially in the figures of Jan and Max, is one of
the novel’s most controversial aspects. Wright was still a member
of the Communist Party at the time he wrote this novel, and many
critics have argued that Max’s long courtroom speech is merely an
attempt on Wright’s part to spread communist propaganda. While Wright
uses communist characters and imagery in Native Son generally
to evoke a positive, supportive tone for the movement, he does not
depict the Party and its efforts as universally benevolent. Jan,
the only character who explicitly identifies himself as a member
of the Party, is almost comically blind to Bigger’s feelings during
Book One. Likewise, Max, who represents the Party as its lawyer,
is unable to understand Bigger completely. In the end, Bigger’s
salvation comes not from the Communist Party, but from his own realization
that he must win the battle that rages within himself before he
can fight any battles in the outside world. The changes that Wright
identifies must come not from social change, but from individual
effort.

Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors
used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Mrs. Dalton’s Blindness

Mrs. Dalton’s blindness plays a crucial role in the circumstances
of Bigger’s murder of Mary, as it gives Bigger the escape route
of smothering Mary to keep her from revealing his presence in her
bedroom. On a symbolic level, this set of circumstances serves as
a metaphor for the vicious circle of racism in American society:
Mrs. Dalton’s inability to see Bigger causes him to turn to violence,
just as the inability of whites to see blacks as individuals causes
blacks to live their lives in fear and hatred. Mrs. Dalton’s blindness
represents the inability of white Americans as a whole to see black
Americans as anything other than the embodiment of their media-enforced -stereotypes.
Wright echoes Mrs. Dalton’s literal blindness throughout the novel
in his descriptions of other characters who are figuratively blind
for one reason or another. Indeed, Bigger later realizes that, in
a sense, even he has been blind, unable to see whites as individuals
rather than a single oppressive mass.

The Cross

The Christian cross traditionally symbolizes compassion
and sacrifice for a greater good, and indeed Reverend Hammond intends
as much when he gives Bigger a cross while he is in jail. Bigger
even begins to think of himself as Christlike, imagining that he
is sacrificing himself in order to wash away the shame of being
black, just as Christ died to wash away the world’s sins. Later,
however, after Bigger sees the image of a burning cross, he can
only associate crosses with the hatred and racism that have crippled
him throughout his life. As such, the cross in Native Son comes
to symbolize the opposite of what it usually signifies in a Christian
context.

Snow

A light snow begins falling at the start of Book Two,
and this snow eventually turns into a blizzard that aids in Bigger’s
capture. Throughout the novel, Bigger thinks of whites not as individuals, but
as a looming white mountain or a great natural force pressing down
upon him. The blizzard is raging as Bigger jumps from his window
to escape after Mary’s bones are found in the furnace. When he falls
to the ground, the snow fills his mouth, ears, and eyes—all his senses
are overwhelmed with a literal whiteness, representing the metaphorical
“whiteness” he feels has been controlling him his whole life. Bigger
tries to flee, but the snow has sealed off all avenues of escape, allowing
the white police to surround and capture him.

Racism is a prison to both the patient and the agent, it is pepper thrown to the African wound but also puffs back to the White's eyes, they in turn all feel the sweetness in their different bodies,...

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